Uriah's Story
by FandomsForLife
Summary: A story about Uriah's life in Dauntless alongside Marlene and Lynn. He has to survive initiation, face new fears, meet new people, and survive the war before he can become a member of Dauntless.
1. The Train

I wait for the train to appear on the tracks as I hear the shudders of the ground. It is approaching. It is the first day of fifth grade. The first day that Dauntless-borns must try to get on and off the trains.

Next to me is Zeke. Tall and confident, he seems like he has nothing to fear. Of course he doesn't. Ever since we were young, I've only seen him cry once. And that was when my father died. Betrayed by his best friend, who was jealous of his influential power and strength. My mother didn't stop crying for weeks. Literally.

Behind me is my mom. She grins at me and waves. With her long brown hair windblown and chocolate eyes filled with energy, it is enough to make me stand up taller.

Finally.

It comes into sight, the long body racing across the tracks, gradually slowing down as it approaches. Slowly, my excitement turned into anxiety as I realized what I had to do next. Get on a moving train for the first time.

My mother rushes forward and hugs me.  
"Go get 'em, Uri." I smile wanly, and she leans down and whispers.

"Nervous about the train?"

"Uh huh."

She grins, and says, "I bet you'll be one of the few who actually get on." She pushes me forward, and I find my place again next to Zeke, who gives me an arrogant, yet reassuring smile as he runs to the train and jumps on, grabbing the bars at either side and easing himself inside. All of the oldest Dauntless-borns get on easily and the rest study them carefully, trying to memorize the steps. Usually, the younger Dauntless got on another train, where it stops when you're getting on and off, but today, we are going to be racing beside it and getting on with the older ones. Most of the higher-aged Dauntless will get on in another compartment, other than the few that get in ours to help us.

The next compartment is for the younger Dauntless. We all line up behind one another anxiously. Somehow, I find myself the last one.

They all get on... basically disastrously. The first seven kids all slip off the bars on the first try and need some older Dauntless to pull them in. Only two kids manage to get on without help before my turn, both of them girls. One of them I faintly recognize, with shoulder-length hair and golden eyes. Haunting. Her hard expression, I hate to admit it, is definitely intimidating. The other is someone who I have no clue of, and she doesn't stop smiling, both with her smile and dark brown eyes, the whole time she has to get on, her light brown hair flipping in her face. The rest of the kids after all stumble and require assistance.

My turn.

I run alongside the train as it's slowly picking up speed. I glance back at my mom, who grins widely and flashes me a 'thumbs up'. Her lack of movement to assist me or encourage me might be discomforting to most, but to me, it shows that she believes in me. That wakes me up more than anything.

I grab both the handles and run with the train. Pulling myself up, I put my legs inside the train and lean against the side just as the Dauntless compound flashes past my face. I sigh with relief and brush my hair out of my eyes. Then, the impact of what I just did hits me, and I look away from the rest of the kids and beam.

"Nice job."

I turn around to find myself staring at the light haired girl, the one who couldn't stop smiling. I find her grin infectious and smile back. To my surprise, the girl I recognized is with her, her stoic movement still there.

"Thanks. You guys did well, too. I didn't even expect myself to get on. More like fall off and crack my head open."

The corners of the stoic girl's lips twitch, and I stare at her. I know her. What's her name? Lea? Leanne?

"Lynn! That's your name, right? Amanda's daughter? My mom knows your mom." Instantly after I said that, I felt my face turning red. My mom knows your mom? What an idiotic thing to say. Pansycake.

To my surprise, Lynn smiles. "Uriah? Yeah, I remember you, too. Your brother knows my sister, Shauna." I recall my brother walking in the compound hand in hand with a pretty, tall girl and slyly grin. She seems to understand what I'm insinuating and laughs.

The other girl says, "Since I'm the only one who is not introduced yet, I'm Kevon. Marlene Kevon." She puts on a mock serious face and shakes both of our hands too enthusiastically. Then we all start laughing. Too loudly. Even for Dauntless.

"Calm down, guys. Even Dauntless-borns aren't so outgoing on the first day of getting on the train themselves." I recognize the blond boy who speaks: Harrison. Older than my brother and amazing in combat. In other words, awesome.

"Maybe we aren't Dauntless-borns. We might as well be Amities in disguise," Marlene says, her lips shaking with suppressed laughter.

"Yeah, right. They would have fell off the train and broke their bones on the first go. And the others would be 'too peaceful' to interfere in that violent scenario," Harrison smirks.

"True," Lynn says.

"I can tell you guys are Dauntless. Not like Dauntless-born, but Dauntless for life. I'll see you in that faction." He winks at us and walks away into a group of chattering guys. I find myself staring after him. I've never really considered Choosing Day very importantly. How is Harrison so sure he will be there? Even though people say the tests aren't supposed to change your choice, they do. In the end, will I really choose Dauntless?

"We're approaching." Lynn's crisp voice shakes me out of my reverie as I focus on the school. For some reason, it looks different today. More intimidating.

"I think these three," Harrison says, pointing to us, "will show us how to get off the correct way." Lynn's eyes widen a fraction of an inch and Marlene's mouth opens a bit. He grins at us. "Go on."

I stand on one edge of the opening of the train, with Marlene in between Lynn and me. Marlene looks at the fast-moving ground and gulps, taking both of our hands and gripping them tightly.

"On three," I find myself saying. They both nod slowly.

"One." We all tense up.

"Two." The school is right next to us.

"Three."

We jump off the train and the impact of the ground hits me hard, shuddering through my body, making my knees wince. I look beside me. The grin is back on Marlene, and Lynn has a small smile on her face, trying to hide her pride at getting off on both feet. We all managed to do it properly. Weturn towards each other and start laughing, but I don't know why. Maybe out of sheer relief or delirium. We run towards the school and I take my hand out of Marlene's grasp and put it around her shoulders. She looks at me, smiling.

I turn back to see Dauntless stumbling across the yard, some on the ground, and most of them picking themselves up. Harrison catches my eye and grins, patting us on the back.

"See you in Dauntless," he whispers. I grin. Perhaps I will.

The rest of that day is all a blur to me. I realize that I have most of my classes with Lynn and Marlene as we chat going up to the school. While we walk, I realize that I've never really had good friends before. I was one of the more quiet Dauntless, not really talking to anyone on the way to school or in it, either. Maybe today, I can change that. Maybe today, I will.


	2. Two Days Before Choosing

"Uri?"

"What?" I recognize Marlene's tone, but it's missing something. But what?

'It's two days before Choosing Day."

"I know." It's missing the happiness.

I turn around from the rail of the chasm to find Lynn and Marlene staring at me intently.

"What are you going to choose?" Lynn asks me, attempting for a casual tone, but I see the panic in her eyes. Ever since that first day of fifth grade, we've been inseparable. Jumping off the train at the same time and putting my arm around Marlene's shoulders as we run towards the school have both become types of sentimental traditions.

"I don't know. Most probably Dauntless, though." Marlene's eyes light up, and Lynn's stiff position relaxes a bit.

"What about you?" I ask, not wanting to hear the answers, almost, especially Marlene's. Her constant happiness and smiling were signs of the Amity, and I didn't want to lose her to those weirdos. Unless she became one. Then they wouldn't be as weird.

"Dauntless, obviously." Lynn's clear voice rang around the hallway. I smiled.

"I think I'm going to be Dauntless, too. The cake is a huge plus point," Marlene said, grinning. "But seriously. I hope we all are." Then she looks away. "Even though people say the test shouldn't change your choice, it does." Her looking away from us irresistibly reminds me of an incident that happened about a week ago. When we were jumping off the train, her black shirt lifted up a bit, revealing her tanned stomach. Nearby, boys started wolf-whistling. One of them had even called out, "Mar, you wouldn't mind giving me some of that, would you?" She turned away from them, and angrily, I had glared back at them and tightened my grip around her shoulders. She looked at me and I obviously felt angry that they had made fun of Mar, but the sudden flaming anger inside of me signaled I felt something more. But I don't know what it was.

I don't want to lose her. Not Marlene, who is always there to put a smile on someone's face. Not Marlene, who taught me how to loosen up and grin more and mingle with others more easily. And not Marlene, who is the rock of us three, keeping us together when Lynn gets out of hand or I fall into an occasional rage.

Lynn looks at her, alarmed. Then her expression softens. "It's our choice in the end, anyway. Not anyone else's." For a moment, I find myself looking at Lynn. She's so strange. Three days ago, a boy in the Dauntless compound had tried to beat her up. And he succeeded. Most of the time, they had taunted her, making comments about her body and femininity. In the beginning, she had the upper hand, but when the started teasing her, she lost her rhythm and ended up as a bloody mess on the floor. Marlene and I had carried her to the hospital wing, and she had recovered well, except for bruises all over her face and body. But that attack took so much of her confidence away that she asked Marlene and I to shave her head. At first we were astonished and refused. However, she grabbed a nearby head-shaver and started shaving her hair off. Despite our refusals, she continued, and finally, we relented and helped her. She stopped wearing tight-fitting outfits and exchanged them for loose, baggy ones. Even though Marlene had pleaded with her to not let them get to her, she continued.

Now when I look at her, I think of how brave she was. Wait, is. Even though people might see her submission as an act of cowardice, I think of it as altering her course to give her an advantage. Her golden eyes give out less warmth now. She's more of a threat, which I think was her intention.

We walk back to the Dauntless dining hall in silence and go to the counter.

"Three pieces of chocolate cake, please," Marlene ordered, smiling, "and make them rather large." The boy at the counter smiled at her for too long, but she didn't seem to notice. He went into the kitchen and cut out three pieces, and when he came back, he handed her the plates, staring at her the whole time. I glared at the guy and tugged Marlene away.

"Whoa. What's wrong, Uri? You looked as if you were about to murder that guy!" Lynn caught us and sat down next to Marlene, taking her helping of cake.

"He was being an idiot," I muttered quietly.

"What?" I heard a smile in Lynn's voice, and when I looked at her, she looked as if she knew something that I didn't. She grinned at me, then looked away. What is up with her?

"Nothing." She keeps smiling slyly and cuts her cake into small pieces. Then, I watch her face contort into one of anger and bitterness. Okay, something is definitely not right here.

"Are you okay, Lynn?" Marlene asks softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her face returns to normal, and her cake is gone. "I'm going to talk to Shauna. Haven't talked to her in a while. See you guys later."

"Bye!" Marlene calls. And with her bald head glinting in the sun, she walks away.

When I look back at my cake, it's gone. And I didn't eat it. I look to my side to see Marlene holding it, evilly grinning.

"You wouldn't." I tell Marlene in my best 'you're in trouble' voice.

"Yes, I would." She gets up and starts running out of the cafeteria.

"Marlene!" I bellow and sprint after her.

She runs through hallways and training rooms alike and her long legs are impossible to keep up with, especially after that head start.

Finally, I gain on her and she starts screaming. I crack up and run after her into the training room. I grin. Jared always locks the door on the other side after 6:00. It's 6:43 right now.

Marlene enters the room, and then gasps. She looks back wildly, then sighs. She knows that she's cornered. And she knows that I can beat her in a fight. In an action of surrender, she holds up the cake and gets down on both knees, so it looks like she's offering it to me. I laugh and snatch the cake from her, stuffing it in my mouth. Marlene grins lopsidedly and we both sink to the floor, catching our breath.

"I don't want to lose this," she says, looking at the training room which was so familiar to us. I remember all the times that we beat each other up and rolled on the floor, laughing, while Jared tried to control us.

I chew quietly, deep in thought. I don't want to lose this either. I don't want to lose Zeke or Shauna or my mom or Lynn or Marlene. But am I fit out for Dauntless? Is this truly where I am supposed to be?

"I'm going to see where Lynn is. You coming?" Mar asks me.

"Yeah." I heave myself up and walk alongside her in silence.

I don't want to lose this.


	3. The Aptitude Test

**Aaahh! I got my first favorite and follower! I'm freaking out from happiness! Thank you, NotAnOrdinaryStiff, for favoriting my story, and thank you, DauntlessBabe, for following the story. It means a whole lot to me.**

**Now for the writing...**

"Now!"

Lynn, Marlene, and I jump off the train in unison, thud our feet against the ground, and start running towards the school building, my arm finding its place around Mar's shoulders. But today, our running isn't filled with enthusiasm. More like nervousness.

We enter the school to find ourselves splitting to go to different classes: Lynn to Faction History, Mar to math, and me to Science. First period and all the classes before lunch are the only ones we are separated in.

"Have you made your choice, Uri?" Mar's tone, usually happy, comes out in a gentle whisper this time.

"Uh- yeah. Of course," I reply nonchalantly. "Dauntless till the end." I put on a goofy grin to put Lynn at ease, who takes more convincing.

"I'll see you guys at lunch, then." Marlene turns around with a smile and a wave, and Lynn takes a right into the next hallway.

I find the words repeating in my head.

_Dauntless till the end._

* * *

Lunchtime is done.

I quickly scan the rest of the cafeteria to find Mar and Lynn sitting together, whispering. I hurry over and join them.

The cafeteria is the same as usual, but yet so different. The Abnegation are sitting quietly and poised without saying a word, while the Candor are openly arguing about something, yet smiling. I look towards the Amity to see them laughing and playing games, and a bitter taste comes into my mouth. The Erudite are holding newspapers and books and chattering, but not too loudly. And most of the Dauntless are laughing and shouting, holding cards. Aren't we supposed to be enjoying ourselves, too?

To put our minds at ease, I pull out a pack of cards. "Anyone up for a game of poker?"

Marlene grins. "You're on." Lynn grabs the pile and starts shuffling them.

Throughout the game, I pay attention somehow, but my mind is constantly wandering.

_Who am I, really?_

After ten minutes or so of playing, I heard my name through the midst of talking.

"From Dauntless: Uriah Fields and Devon Wood."

I look back at Lynn and Marlene and say, "I'll see you soon, then." Marlene gives my hand a squeeze with a smile, and I turn away, not yet ready to face what is about to come.

I enter a room to find an Abnegation member ready to test me. She smiles.

"Hi. I'm Katherine Travers, and I'll be overlooking your test today. Take a seat." She points to a metal chair and I sit down, gripping the hand rests tightly. She prepares the machine, looking at a bunch of wires and buttons. I bite my lip and tap my foot, making a rhythm on the floor.

"Nervous about the test?" This reminds me so much of my mother that it causes a pang in my heart.

"Uh... A little." I force myself to lopsidedly smile, wondering what she is going to say next.

She smiles at me. "Don't worry. Remember, the test doesn't have to change your choice."

"But doesn't it?" I blurt out, then close my mouth immediately.

Her smile fades a little, and she looks at me intently. "You remind me a bit of my son. Transferred to Erudite." She stares at me for a second or two, and then shakes herself. "I really must get the test started now."

She pushes a few electrodes to my head and puts one on herself. Then, she attaches all of them to the machine next to her. She hands me a vial of... something.

"Drink it."

I silently take the glass and down it in one go, not wanting to taste it much.

"Good luck" is the last thing I hear before I find myself staring at darkness.

* * *

When I open my eyes, I find myself staring at the school cafeteria. In front of me are two baskets. In one is cheese, and in the other is a knife.

From somewhere behind me, a woman's voice says, "Choose."

"What am I going to use it for?" I question.

"Choose," she insists.

I shake my head in impatience and hesitate.

_Knife or cheese?_

I slowly put my hand around the knife and grip it. I chose the knife.

The baskets disapparate, and I hear a squeak behind me. I turn around to find myself facing a dog... A growling, drooling, angry dog.

I understand now. I have to kill it with my knife. If I had chosen the cheese, I could have fed it to the dog.

I study the dog. It looks thin, like it hasn't had a good meal for a long time. The brown eyes look angry, but also tired and desperate. I let the knife clang to the floor. I could never kill it. Not if I had a choice.

I walk slowly towards the dog. I have nothing in my hands, nothing to protect me, other than nearby tables, but I still move towards it.

"Come here," I say soothingly, smiling. The dog continues to growl, but it turns into sort of a whimper after it feels my hand brushing its coat.

"Good boy," I whisper, and it licks my ear, now happily woofing. I grin and laugh.

Suddenly, a young girl appears out of nowhere, and the dog immediately turns toward her viciously, the happy look on his face now gone. It starts sprinting toward her.

"No!" I run after the dog, pumping my legs hard.

Almost there.

I grab the girl's hand and manage to push us out of the dog's way. Then the scene disappears.

I am now on a bus next to a man with a scarred face. He's holding a newspaper with a man on it. He shakes the paper at me violently.

"Do you know this guy?" he growls. I take a good look at the man and realize that I do know him from somewhere. But I'm not giving this rude pansycake any information. It would be pretty stupid.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Of course not. "I'm sure." I turn away from him, but he pulls me by the shoulder to face him again, and this time, I hear a plea of desperation in his voice.

"If you know him, you could save me. You could save me!" he states loudly.

I avoid looking him straight in the eye. "I told you, I don't know him."

He scowls at me. "So be it."

* * *

And I wake up in the simulation chair with beads of sweat rolling down my face. Katherine is looking at me with a puzzled look on her face, and she looks towards the door many times, as if to check if anyone is eavesdropping.

"Uriah, right?"

"Yeah." I nod my head slowly, wondering what in the world I am going to hear next.

"Well, Uriah, your test results were inconclusive. This means you're Divergent." She whispers so softly I can hardly hear her.

I gulp and try to control the shakiness in my voice. "So that means I don't belong in a faction?"

She knits her eyebrows. "Half and half. It means that you belong in more than one faction, which technically means that you aren't fit for only one faction."

"Which factions did I have the aptitude for?"

She sighs, putting her face in her hands. Then she looks up. "This part was pretty confusing. You had the aptitude for Dauntless because you took the knife. But since you hesitated, I had to make sure you weren't an Amity. The problem there is that you were extremely friendly with the dog. And in the end, when you were arguing with the man, you didn't firmly tell him you didn't know him. So you have the aptitude for both Dauntless and Amity. Candor was ruled out because you lied, Abnegation was ruled out because you pulled both the girl and yourself away from the dog, and you showed no signs of Erudite."

"Whoa."

She chuckles a bit. "Yeah, pretty confusing. But Uriah, you can't tell anyone you're Divergent. No one."

"Why?"

Katherine looks away. "I can't tell you that, but trust me, it is for the best."

I try to retort back to her, but when I saw those brown eyes, they reminded me exactly of...

"Okay, m- Katherine. Thank you."

I quietly exit the room and walk back to the cafeteria, a little dazed. I spot Lynn already back at the table. She waves to me, and I sit down next to her.

"So how did it go?" she asks. I see that same glint of satisfaction in her eyes as I did the first day we jumped of the train together, and I knww immediately she had gotten Dauntless as her result.

I shrug. "Okay, I guess."

She looks at me with her eyes narrowed, and I quickly bring up another topic.

"Marlene back yet?"

"Not yet. I think she's still testing."

At that exact moment, Marlene walked back into the room with a huge grin on her face.

She got Dauntless. Thank God.

"Come on," Marlene exclaims. "Let's get on the train home."

* * *

I enter my house to see my mom at the kitchen, whipping something delicious up. I recognize the aroma. Pasta. My favorite.

"Hey, Uri!" She smiles at me. "Come on, eat up."

I sit down at the table and wait for Zeke to arrive. Sure enough, two seconds later...

"PASTA!"

I shake my head, grinning. Typical Zeke.

"So how did this aptitude test go, bro?" Zeke chimes. "I bet you got Amity!"

When I throw a 'you're an idiot' look at him, my mom focuses her eyes on me.

Great.

"Uriah, eat your pasta," she chides jokingly, but I see the seriousness in her face. She knows. _She knows._

I stick my fork into the pasta and start wolfing it all up. I eat when I'm confused. Or sad. Or angry. Or happy. Or excited. So basically, all the time.

In two minutes, my huge bowl is empty and in the sink.

"I'm going to go sleep," I announce. Zeke shoots me a thumbs up sign and says, "Choose well, little bro." My mom stays mysteriously silent.

When I'm at the top of the stairs and near the door to enter my room, I hear her.

"Uri."

I turn around to find my mom right behind me. She places one hand on my shoulder and the other is brushing the hair away from my forehead.

"Mhm."

"No matter what the aptitude test says," she gives me a pointed look, "the choice is ultimately yours."

I sigh. "I know, Mom."

She smiles wanly and suddenly pulls me into her arms, giving me a bear hug. This is rare in our family, since Dauntless don't usually show much sentiment, but I know this is a rare occasion.

"Choose well, Uriah," she murmurs into my ears, running her long fingers through my hair.

"I will."

She turns away from me without looking, and I know in that moment that she's crying. Another rare occurrence.

I will make the right choice.

_I will._


	4. Choosing Day

**I thank all of the people who took time to comment and favorite! It means alot to me! And I'm really sorry about this huge gap for the update. Summer's ending, and my mom's making me practice a ton of math and Science. Sorry about that.**

I wake up to find myself looking at a bright blue sky filled with drifting white clouds. Beautiful weather. And then I remember it's Choosing Day.

"Uriah!" my mom calls from downstairs. "Get down here and eat your pancakes!"

I grin at what she says. Pansycake. Pancake.

"Coming!" I yell back. I quickly take a bath and put on a new set of black Dauntless clothes. Most of my clothes looks the same anyway.

On the way downstairs, Zeke comes up from behind me and pats me on the back. "Make a good choice." He smiles at me, and for once, it's not sarcastic or teasing. It's genuine. "Just know what whatever faction you choose, you'll always be my little brother."

I put on a mock pouting face. "Why all the sentiment?" I whined, sounding like a kindergartener.

He laughs and puts his arm around my neck, squeezing it tightly. "Would you rather I did this?"

"No," I manage to choke out, and at the same time, aim a good punch at his stomach. He winces and lets go of me, and we both enter the kitchen, chuckling.

"Come on, eat up. We have to get on the train soon." My mom places a jug of syrup on the table and we both spill it over our pancakes. Within five minutes, our heap is reduced to nothing. We walk outside of the Dauntless compound and wait for the rumbling of the train. I spot Marlene and Lynn with their families. Mar smiles at me, and Lynn doesn't seem to notice me just yet.

It's here.

When it arrives, we split up.

"Good luck, Uriah!" my mom yells, her eyes twinkling, then she's gone in the swarm of people. I'm surrounded by chaos. People are splitting up everywhere. I grab Lynn's shoulder and Marlene's arm and drag them onto the train before I can lose sight of them. The train gains speed and we're off in a matter of seconds.

I take a look at Lynn and Mar. Lynn is looking away into the distance out of the window, and Mar is smiling, as usual, deep in thought. I'm sure that they both what decision they are going to make. Me? Nope.

I know I have an aptitude for both Amity and Dauntless, which I find so confusing. I mean, I used to be pretty silent. I only opened up after knowing Marlene and her rubbing off of me, encouraging me to enjoy myself more. Dauntless, on the other hand, I knew forever. We've been training in the Dauntless compound for a long time, and I'm pretty good at it, if I can say so myself. But both of them? How can that be possible? Aren't Amity and Dauntless opposites? I mean, I guess I don't like violence if I can help it, you know. If someone's arguing, then I usually break it up, unless they insult my friends or something like that. But Dauntless training is a whole other issue. I know I have to be brave there. And I am. I don't have an issue with that.

I see us arriving at a building I don't recognize, but I know enough to categorize it as Abnegation area. I see colored clothing ascending many flights of stairs through the glass. The train slows down, and Marlene and Lynn come over to me, prepared to jump off together.

"Now!" Marlene yells, and we jump off, too easily now, running towards the building along with the crowd of Dauntless.

As it turns out, the "many flights of stairs" I saw the other factions climb turned out to be twenty. I inwardly groaned and followed Mar and Lynn, racing to get to the top out of anxiety.

When I enter the room, I see that it is filled with concentric circles. Facing inwards from those are the sixteen-years-olds of each faction, waiting to decide their fate. I remember my mom telling me to arrange myself in alphabetical order, so I am placed in between Nancy Farmer, from... you guessed it, Amity, and Nathan Foner, a tall Candor boy who shows no expression whatsoever on his face.

Then, to the middle of the podium steps Marcus Eaton, Abnegation's spokesperson.

"Welcome. Welcome to the Choosing Ceremony," he says. "Welcome to the day we honor the democratic philosophy of our ancestors, which tells us that every man has the right to choose his own way in this world."

I can choose whatever I want to become. Not anyone else. That thought calms me somehow, and I smile a little, relaxed a bit.

"Our dependents are now sixteen. They stand on the precipice of adulthood, and it is now up to them to decide what kind of people they will be. Decades ago, our ancestors realized that it is not political ideology, religious belief, race, or nationalism that is to blame for a warring world. Rather, they determined that it was the fault of human personality - of humankind's inclination toward evil, in whatever form that is. They divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world's disarray. Those who blamed agression formed Amity."

I look at the smiling Amities in their colorful clothes. Do I believe in peace above all? Will I join them? Am I supposed to join them?

"Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite." I don't even have to look at them to decide I'm not going to join them.

"Those who blamed duplicity created Candor." While honesty is quite an important virtue of mine, it doesn't tower over all of the others.

"Those who blamed selfishness made Abnegation." I know I'm not selfless enough to join them.

"And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless." The name said in Marcus's slow, deep tone felt like home. Yet I find myself looking back to the soil in Amity's bowl.

"Working together, these five factions have lived in peace for many years, each contributing to a different sector of society. Abnegation has fulfilled our need for selfless leaders in government; Candor has provided us with trustworthy and sound leaders in law; Erudite has supplied us with intelligent teachers and researchers; Amity has given us understanding counselors and caretakers; and Dauntless provides us with protection from threats both within and without. But the reach of each faction is not limited to these areas. We give one another far more than can be adequately summarized. In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life."

My whole life has been in Dauntless. Is that the life I want?

"Apart from them, we would not survive."

Would I?

A huge silence fills the room, in which I am sure all of the sixteen-year-olds would be pondering where they want to spend the rest of their lives. However, Marcus concludes this speech.

"Therefore this day makrs a happy occasion - the day on which we recieve our new initiates, who will work with us toward a better society and a better world."

Applause echoes from every corner of the room. Marcus starts reading off the names, and I stiffen.

I only remember a few of the people choosing. One dark haired boy from Abnegation shifting to Erudite, and the room gasps, breaking into furious mutters. However, the Erudite smile smugly, and I knew that I never liked them. Another was another Abnegation transfer, a blond haired girl, who shifts to Dauntless, after some hesitation. The last one I recall is James, one of my only Dauntless cousins, moving away to Amity. He looks back at me and smiles, something almost apologetic.

"Uriah Fields."

I step forward and attempt to pull on a stoic face, because I know most of Dauntless is watching my every move. I take the knife from Marcus and pull it across my palms, blood pooling up in the center, but I hardly notice the pain. My eyes are on only the bowls.

The Dauntless and Amity bowls and next to one another, thank God.

Will I be able to live as an Amity?

I look again towards the peace loving members who look happy and content. They look so calm and joyful, something that wasn't really ever an option in my life. Joyful, maybe, but not calm. Amity never stick up for someone else if it means them getting hurt.

I look at Lynn and Marlene. Would I be brave enough to save them if they were in danger? The answer clicks instantly. I grin and drop my blood on the sizzling coals, for everyone to hear. The sound rings in my ears, and I look up to the ceiling in thanks.

I am Dauntless.

Marlene and Lynn smile, and I return it, walking down to the Dauntless and receiving pats on the back and a few words of congratulations.

Before I turn back, Marlene is at my side, her eyes twinkling and her hair windblown, grasping my hand. I squeeze it, laughing softly.

"I knew it."

"Mhm," she replies, smiling.

We both look up as Lynn is choosing. She throws us a wink, and drops her blood onto the coals. Marlene lets go of my hand and throws her arms around me. I'm taken aback, but hug her back. I didn't lose either of them.

As the last few names are called, people start getting restless, especially the Dauntless. Finally, the last girl, now an Erudite, joins them, and the Dauntless all walk to the stairs. I am aware of this custom, and so is Lynn, because of our elder siblings, but Marlene is not.

"What's going on?" She laughs, and starts walking quicker to join the others.

"Watch and see," Lynn answers. She is overjoyed; her eyes sparkling... rare. But this is a rare occasion.

Suddenly, the Dauntless start whooping and screaming and yelling, skipping down the stairs. I join in after a second, and so do Lynn and Mar. This feels right.

This is right. We are brave. We are Dauntless. We are together.


End file.
